Lake Forest Library

The Lake Forest Library is the public library serving Lake Forest, Illinois. It is located at 360 E. Deerpath, Lake Forest, Illinois.

Statistics

Registered Borrowers: 14,490 (72% of population)¹
Annual Circulation: 406,998 items (20.2 per capita)¹
Square Footage: 32,800²
Total Holdings: 143,518 (print and audio visual items)¹

History

The Lake Forest Library was chartered on July 4, 1898 by Mayor Edward F. Gorton, and opened on the second floor of The New city hall as part of that building's grand opening on June 24, 1899.³ The first library board members, appointed by Mayor Gorton soon after granting the charter, were J. J. Halsey, D. W. Hartman, Calvin Durand, George S. Holt, Charles S. Frost, John Kemp, David B. Jones, Richard G. Watson, and David Fales.³

The library moved to its current location in 1931. The present building, designed as a library by architect Edwin H. Clark, was given to the city by Mrs. Charles H. Schweppe and Mrs. Stanley Keith in memory of Mrs. Keith’s first husband, Kersey Coates Reed, and was dedicated on June 7, 1931. Significant changes to the building are listed below:⁴

1967: Installation in Children's Department of Apple Tree Children, bronze and wood sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson,

: daughter of Howard Van Doren Shaw.

1978: Addition of three wings underwritten by community gifts and a

: substantial donation from the Reed family. Brenner, Danforth, and Rockwell, architects.

1990: Three-level bookstack renovation.

1992: Children's Department renovation. Thomas Melvin mural for Children's foyer commissioned by

: the Friends of Lake Forest Library.

1996: Adult Reference and Friends Reading Room renovations. Michael Croydon's, "Ex Libris" sculpture commissioned

: by the Deer Path Art League of Lake Forest and installed on the library's front lawn. Restoration of the Nicolai; Remisoff "Poets and Writers of Antiquity" murals originally installed in 1932. Funded by the Friends; of Lake Forest Library.

2001: Completion of the Louise Wells Kasian Children's Activity Center in the space of the former children's courtyard.

: Designed by David Woodhouse Architects.

2003: Business Room renovation funded by the Eugene A. and Emily L. Veto Foundation and the Friends

: of Lake Forest Library.

2005: Fine Arts Room renovation funded by the Friends of Lake Forest Library.

2006-2007: Two-year landscape restoration funded by the Friends of Lake Forest Library.

2009: Renovation of Children's Library. Additional Thomas Melvin murals commissioned by the Friends of Lake Forest Library.

References

"Lake Forest Library FY2009 Statistics" Lake Forest Library: June, 2009.
"Welcome to Lake Forest Library" (Brochure Draft) Lake Forest Library: 2008.
Mellinger, Sydney S. "The History of Lake Forest Library." Presented at the joint annual meetings of The Friends of Lake Forest Library and The Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society: May 3, 1981.
http://www.lakeforestlibrary.org/lflhistory.html